Washboard Dirt Roads = Major Problems

[rtmozingo]

If your tires are not keeping contact with imperfections in the road surface, the Fox factory rebound is set too slow. Airing down will be your band-aid unless you can tune the Fox factory shocks for faster rebound.

Which is funny cause the fronts compress too quick and rebound even quicker on the big stuff. Get a pogo front end.

Gets a bit irksome, but you can only do so much with one set of internal bypasses that have to work on road too.

 

[goblues38]

1. How do I find out the build date of my truck? I know I looked it up before, but I forget now. I think it had something to do with the VIN, but I can't remember exactly how to do it.

Drivers door jamb will be your build sticker with the date of final assembly.

I agree that your tire pressures should be correct, but i also agree that one should not have to air down to 22 psi just to do a dirt road.

It is possible, as suggested, the washboard pattern on the road was just at the perfect (wrong) frequency to make your tires never hit the bottom, and always chop off the top of the rise. To me, this gets solved by increased speed.

As far as the back end coming around. The Gen 2 raptors are very stable and like to rotate. but they are very controlled.

At the Raptor assult school....the little dirt track oval they make you run....had real bad wash board.....almost impossible to get the truck to "hook up" at lower speed. But whe you got going...it worked like a charm.

 

[TRAPTOR-REX]

When my '17 was brand new I took it down a near by dirt road that was wash-boarded and nearly put it in the ditch on the first corner. I Was really disappointed on how poorly it handled the washboards. I also had the rear get excited a few time on certain rough LA freeways and had a 2nd very bad washboard experience. However, over time I haven't had issues with the LA freeway or washboard.
What changed:

1) Dealer had cold pressures around 40 psi, I now run 38F/36R Cold. Going lower improves ride more but I felt I it made a noticeable negative impact on fuel economy
2) I believe the rear suspension soften up to initial compression after a few 100 miles of offroading at speed
3) If I know I'm going to be running on dirt roads, not off-roading, I'll air down to a "warm" 34-36 F and 32R. I find this a good compromise so I don't need to be in any hurry to air up when I'm back on the pavement.
4) If I am really offorading or want to push it on gravel roads then I air down to the ~25 psi "warm" but may go up or down a few psi based on conditions and how hard I want to run

 

[Yoshi]

Which is funny cause the fronts compress too quick and rebound even quicker on the big stuff. Get a pogo front end.

Gets a bit irksome, but you can only do so much with one set of internal bypasses that have to work on road too.

Yep, I bet they valve the rebound a little slow to compensate for carrying load. If they turned it faster, towing or carrying a load in the bed would suffer.

It would be nice you could fine tune the Fox live valve compression and rebound damping from the cab.

Does anyone know if changing driving modes changes the damping on the 19's?

 

[sixshooter_45]

View attachment 127349

Yep, I bet they valve the rebound a little slow to compensate for carrying load. If they turned it faster, towing or carrying a load in the bed would suffer.

It would be nice you could fine tune the Fox live valve compression and rebound damping from the cab.

Does anyone know if changing driving modes changes the damping on the 19's?

Yes changing drive modes does change dampening on the shocks and it shows that for example in the Raptor Status screen.

 

[Ricoman]

I've been reading for several months now about how you have to air down when going off-road...My Raptor also does not handle the greatest off-road and understand how lowering the pressure will help...my question is,If you live say 50 miles from the start of a trail and air down when you get there,how are you suppose to air back up to drive home...I've read a lot about on board air compressors...so did all you guys spend another $1000 for a good system...?? Seems to me if the Raptor is suppose to be the best off road truck it would come with a system from the factory...cause it sounds like you have to do alot of airing down and back up for the Raptor to shine....

 

[VelociRap]

First of all, yes, tire pressure is definitely the cause, the back is light and playful.
Second of all, you and your passengers should calm down and remember it’s a Raptor, not some slow-A Chevy or Ram it is made for speed, everywhere!
See the picture of my rear tires when the dealer put 40psi cold on my service... i used 4A every time it was even damp on the road and thought it was normal...

 

[Deleted member 12951]

Now I have a GEN1 but how bad was the washboard road you were on? I’ve been on some washboard roads in Baja that if you went 10mph and let go of the steering wheel, it would move back and forth quite a bit. At 60mph, it was still noticeable and others in the group was complaining about how ****** it was. But once I hit 70mph, it smoothed out. Told the group over the radio to get up to 70 and it smoothed out for most too.

Now granted, this was a long open stretch so not sure how yours was and if you could get up to higher speeds. I was only aired down to 36psi and did have gear in the bed, like 2 spares, jack, gas, tools, etc and I do have upgraded leaf springs and shocks to 3.0’s.

Just sometimes I have found that faster does actually smooth things out.

 

[NE Raptor]

Are the 19s more sensitive to this than the 17/1

View attachment 127357 First of all, yes, tire pressure is definitely the cause, the back is light and playful.
Second of all, you and your passengers should calm down and remember it’s a Raptor, not some slow-A Chevy or Ram it is made for speed, everywhere!
See the picture of my rear tires when the dealer put 40psi cold on my service... i used 4A every time it was even damp on the road and thought it was normal...

mine look exactly like yours - had 48lbs from the dealer and i was towing a trailer with it before i even realized i had an issue. 18k miles and my rears wouldnt pass inspection

 

[VelociRap]

Are the 19s more sensitive to this than the 17/1


mine look exactly like yours - had 48lbs from the dealer and i was towing a trailer with it before i even realized i had an issue. 18k miles and my rears wouldnt pass inspection

Mine lasted 12k...